Locked Out(A Blue Lock Story)

Chapter Eight - Drifting

In Koto, Japan, at the Tokyo Big Sight Conference Centre, Jinpachi Ego and Anri Teieri were having a meeting with 3 mysterious figures. Their connection to Ego was unknown however one of them seemed to have features reminiscent of a certain 'someone' from the Blue Lock program.

"If I may, I'd like to know how things are going." The familiar man said, folding his hands on the table as he corrected his posture.
Ego, slightly annoyed that his speech was interrupted, looked at the man and clicked his tongue, "Tsk tsk tsk. Tadashi, aren't you ever the curious one. Like we agreed upon when this program was thought of, I am not at liberty to discuss any details with any outside personnel. That includes you."
Tadashi scoffed before leaning back. His emerald eyes went dull as he looked off out of the window.
"However I am not as too cruel to deny you information about your son. His raw talent is good but his mental state is as weak as his body. I plan to remove him from Blue Lock and instead indict him into a different program. If your son fails, he loses his chance to ever play soccer again. But if he succeeds, your son will become a player feared by clubs and teams all over the world."
Teieri interjected, with a concerned look on her face, "Hold on, surely you couldn't mean..." She trembled at the thought before she went back to being silent.
Ego smirked and gave the room a small ominous chuckle.
Tadashi's interest was peaked. He took a second to think about it before nodding his head, "Okay, Ego. And what do you call this little Side-Branched program of yours?"
Ego clicked a button on the projector's remote and it changed to a different screen, showing the image of playing cards.
"The Wildcard."

Back at the blue lock facility, Team V had just got done with training for the day and they were all in the cafeteria eating.
Lonnie was spacing out again, looking down at the table before suddenly before hit in the back of the head with a soccer ball. His head whipped forwards and he groaned before spinning around, attempting to yell but realizing he had something shoved into his mouth. He pulled back and chewed as he noticed that the thing in his mouth was Katsudon and the person who gave it to him was Yoshio.
"Sup douche." Yoshio threw up a peace sign before setting his tray of food next to Lonnie's, having a seat.
"Good right? I mixed some Soy Sauce in there with that spicy bean paste they gave me on the side. Makes for one helluva salty-sweet combo." Yoshio explained, taking a bite of his own food.
"Sounds like something a witch would make." Suddenly, another tray was placed on to the table. Lonnie looked over and saw that Ollie had taken a seat across from them.
Lonnie greeted him with a simple, "Yo".
Yoshio felt offended and spoke up, "How come he gets a hello and I don't? And calling me a witch isn't nice, Kaz." Yoshio retorted.
"I told you to call me Ollie. Stop with the formality." Ollie grumbled.
"If you guys are gonna argue then at least do it somewhere else so I can eat in peace" Lonnie sighed, Taking a bite of his food.

Suddenly, all of the tv's in the cafeteria turned on, showing Jinpachi Ego on the screen.
"Attention all Blue Lock participants. In a moment, 1 individual will be removed from each team and replaced by the person who was kicked off of the team at the start. If your name is called, don't consider yourself unlucky as these names were not chosen by random." Ego explained in a cold tone.
He continued, "Now then, Team Z will be removing Tatsu Okihana and replacing him will be Kuji Tata. Team Y will be removing Kurihara Yuji and replacing him will be Okenji Momo. Team X will be removing Tamanaha Ryo and replacing him will be Tokito Tobio. Team W will be removing Ogawa Yuu and replacing him will be Ojuro Tetsu. Lastly, Team V will be removing Lonnie Aoi and replacing him will be Shouei Kitsune. If your name was called, report the main hall, where you will personally hand your Blue Lock ID badge to your replacement. Thats all."
All of the TV's turned off.

Lonnie sat there in disbelief. What did he do wrong? Why was he getting kicked out? He wasn't the worst on the team so why was HE replaced? None of it made sense and it wasn't sitting right with Lonnie. He stood up in silence before being grabbed on his arm by Yoshio.
"So that's it? You have to leave just like that?" Yoshio asked, his face still being quite emotionless however he seemed more concerned than usual.
"Let him go Yoshio, there's nothing we can do about it." Ollie mumbled, half reluctant to even say the words properly.
"He's right. I knew that eventually it'd be over... just didn't expect it to be so soon. Guess I should've stopped spacing out after all." Lonnie smiled but inside, he was crushed.
He left his half-eaten tray of food on the table as he left, heading towards the main hall, not saying a word to any of the on-looking faces.

Lonnie drug his feet through the hallways, delaying the inevitable. He sulked and leaned against the wall, his legs feeling weaker and weaker as he approached the doors to the main hall. Opening them, he saw eleven people. The five people who were eliminated at the start, the other four people who shared Lonnie's fate, Anri Teieri, and Jinpachi Ego himself.
The five replacements for the blue lock individuals were standing in the middle of the main hall, lined up. Lonnie saw this and lined up with his group, who were lining up in front of their replacements respectively.

"Hand them your Badge ID's." Ego said, wasting no time.
The blue lock individuals pulled the devices off of their shoulders and extended their arms out, not making eye contact with their replacements. The replacements took the badges and walked off, heading to their respective teams.
The 5 players who had just given their badges went to leave before suddenly being called
"Hold it." Ego said, causing them to turn their heads to him.
"I said you would be replaced, however for the life of me, I don't remember telling you to lock off." Ego ended his sentence with a smirk as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Lonnie thought for a second before speaking up, "Then what do you want?"
Ego's smirk dropped as he pointed to a side door.
"The same way those losers got their second chance, I offer you yours. Those of you who loved that taste of playing at the competitive level, enter those doors and take your second chance. Break yourself and become better. Become the top Egoist!" Ego shouted in a hysterical rant.
However his words reached them. The second he finished, the five players who were removed from the Blue Lock program approached the door, with Lonnie at the front of the group.
He took a deep breath before extending his arms, shoving the doors open and walking into a brand new life. Accepting whatever was waiting for him on the other side.

Meanwhile back at the Blue Lock facility, Yoshio was sulking with his head against Ollie's shoulder.
"So Aoi really was just kicked out... just like that. I'm not sure what this overwhelming feeling of dread is in the pit of my stomach." Yoshio mumbled, half-jokingly but at the same time, the other half dead serious.
"Some would call that a broken heart." Ollie responded, rolling his eyes and finishing his food.
"I would call it accepting reality." Say a snarky voice from behind the two.

They both turned around to see the silver haired demon that they knocked out during the start of this program, accompanied by his devilish grin.
Ollie tilted his head, "Who are you?"
"Shouei Kitsune. The bum's replacement." Kitsune was an asshole through and through. He didn't care about how his teammates felt, only feeling the need to score. And now that he was on a powerhouse team like Team V, he was going to leech off of them and climb his way back up to the top. The truth of it was, he was a great player, just got unlucky.
Kitsune smacked Yoshio and Ollie on their shoulders before walking off.
Ollie sneered at the man and stood up, grabbing his tray of food with an annoyed look on his face.
"Ego is a sadistic bastard. Putting someone like him on a team with someone like me. What the hell was he thinking..." Ollie grumbled out before also walking off, leaving Yoshio alone at the table.
Yoshio, just kinda blankly staring, looked down at his food and just went back to eating in silence.